Walking Across the Stage
It was very complicated for my mother to find a job in the United States because of her undocumented status, which prevented her from just applying at any business with a “Help Wanted” sign. Additionally she did not know English and was unsure of where to go to learn English. She found her first jobs through friends in our apartment building and at the parent center at my elementary school. My mother’s first jobs were in sales, from Mary Kay to Avon and then to Tupperware, my mom sold it all. Eventually she meet a women who worked with an agency that places workers in factories. Since 1997 my mother has worked in factories, ranging from clothing factories to packaging factories. In her current job, she packs beauty products into boxes. My mother wakes up every origin at 5:30 to go to her job in the packaging factory. Since she cannot legally get a license in the state of California, my mother takes the bus. She is too scared of being pulled over and possibly going to jail or even being deported, to drive.
For my mother, the concept of working has always been something you have to do, as opposed to an opportunity to make a difference in the world or to find fulfillment. Every day my mother comes home from work exhausted, wondering whether she will have her job the next day. She has no heath benefits. Being undocumented has definitely made her position in the workforce an uncertain, frightening place to be. She has changed jobs several times because the factories have closed down and she was advised at certain locations not to come in to work or to leave early because immigration services were going to come. Seeing my mother go through these experiences and feeling her fear of the workplace has been a major push for me to attain my college degree.
My mother has also overcome many of the challenges she has faced in the United States. She attended English classes that were offered in the middle school I attended, and she bought tapes and videos to improve her English language skills. She found a job that has provided steady income for the last ten years. My mother has matured and given her children the motivation and advice necessary for them to succeed.
We have not been able to change our undocumented status even though we arrived in the country almost eighteen years ago. The Dream Act would allow me to change my undocumented status, opening up a path that would lead to citizenship. As beneficial as the Dream Act would be for undocumented students, we need comprehensive immigration reform that will change the legal status of millions of U.S. residents.
When I asked my mother if she would have done anything differently in terms of coming to America, she said, “Yes, I would have tried to enter the country legally, to try to find the opportunity to come legally.” When I asked why she did not try to enter the country legally from the beginning, she said, “Because when the people go from here to over there, they tell you that here you earn a lot of money, that it is very easy, and they tell you of a country that is very pretty and different from what it really is. And because I did not think I was young and did not have the maturity. I did not even know what to expect. Simply I followed your father.” I believe my mother’s experiences mirrors the experiences of many immigrants who have come to the United States, led by the fairy tales that exist about the country. Unfortunately many immigrants have realized that these stories are only fantasies.
My mother has not seen her mother or much of the rest of her family in almost eighteen years. With no legal way of leaving and then returning to the country, traveling to Mexico has been out of the question for years. My mother never thought she would leave and raise her children in California. Yet going to live once more in Mexico is not a possibility. She feels her home is where her children are, and her children consider the United States their home. My mother and I, and many other undocumented immigrants, have faced challenges every day in our attempt to create a better life for our families.
Questions to Think About and Discuss
- What was Mrs. Valdez’s motivation for immigrating from Mexico to the United States? What does she think of that motive looking back on it now?
- Many people believe that a “work ethic” is central American value. Describe Mrs. Valdez’s work ethic? Is it “American”? Why or why not?
- Where is Mrs. Valdez’s home? Are her children American?
